Mr President, the common answer that sounds like rehearsed is: ‘my friend, we are busy in the field looking for votes for Mzee’.
Now, there are those officials we know don’t subscribe to the ideals of the ruling party, and we know that, that is partly the reason they don’t bother going to work, they also use that ‘mzee’ thing. But the intentions of your adversaries can be understood because their preoccupation is to fail your programmes so that they can challenge you on your manifesto during the fast-nearing campaigns.
But how about those who should know better? Of course there is that 1% which usually work hard to not only win you the next election, they try hard to do something about the promises as contained in the presidential manifesto. Most of these are the unsung heroes because it is the other corrupt and useless 99% that turn out to benefit after the elections.
And how do they do it? Over the years they have perfected the art of advanced political manipulation. They turn up in strategic places in party colours, parade themselves as the party protectors, and engage the media to deliver them ‘to the house of the lord’.
National Resistance Movement (NRM) has been in power since 1986. Under normal circumstances, it should have built enough reservoir of capable human capital that should be able to drive our national transformation into a modern Uganda. Instead, all we are seeing are people who are just looking for jobs.
Our hope is that when you choose your next leaders, you should please pick people who have capacity to add value to the general wellbeing of the Uganda we all cherish. We want people who can help create jobs. We want leaders who can contribute to transforming our agricultural sector. We want leaders who understand the value of science and technology.
This government runs on the efforts of individuals who, tired of government bureaucratic inefficiency, decided to run their lives they best know how. To the extent that even without government, this country will run after all hasn’t the major part of government been awol for a long time! Before you tell them what to do, many switch into the no-thinking mode.
Fortunately, you have tried and tested many of those currently lobbying for jobs. And there are many other capable Ugandans deserving of the opportunity to be proven. Please give them a chance as we enter a new phase of your administration. In the meantime, please tell those non-performing government officers to prove why they shouldn’t be retrenched.
